Yesterday I witnessed a miracle more beautiful than my inadequate mind can properly describe.  But I will try.

I watched a Fight Club Men alumni walk into church with his daughter holding his and his beautiful fiancées hands.  I watched a man that the World had written off years ago, lead his daughter and his future wife, his family, into church to worship.  I witnessed a miracle.

You see I met this good man and his brother when they were trapped in the prison of drug addiction and prison rotation.  This man had decided that addiction defined him and prison deserved him, and he deserved prison and addiction.  He was a man who made others feel better about themselves.

This man made a choice several years ago to begin the long walk into the life that God had created him to live.  He chose courage over classification.  He chose the vision of his identity that he needed others to help him see.  He chose faith, trust and hope.  It is hard to be hopeful when life seems hopeless.  If you could know this amazing man, even in his deepest highs on drugs, in his lowest lows of life, in the moment of accountability that sent him back to prison on his birthday after a celebration lunch and a year of being clean, faith and hope remained. 

So began several months of phone calls coming from prison.  As I/we accepted those calls and prepared to offer hope and in ways only God can orchestrate, this good man would pour into me from prison.  “I am staying clean.”  “I am reading my Bible.”  “These guys are asking me why I am so hopeful and reading my Bible.  “Myron, isn’t God amazing that he has placed me here to grow my faith and teach me how to witness to other people…like me.”  Yes, God you are too amazing for me to comprehend or understand, so I choose faith and hope, shown to me yesterday by this good man walking his family into church this morning.

Then, on the day he was being released from jail, literally as Megan and I were leaving to go pick him up and bring his home, the call came.  “Myron, another county has put a release hold on me because I have outstanding warrants there.”  Devastating words, to someone who has not been exhausted by a life of running.  “Myron, I should only be there for a month or so.  Isn’t it awesome that when I walk out from there, I don’t have to run anymore?”  Wow!  Do you see the faith lesson here.  We can surrender and release ourselves from the running and walk into the peace of purpose and opportunity.  Wow!

I hope you have stayed with me because there’s more.  We welcomed him back to the Fight Club Men Leaders House, but things were different.  He was a man on fire with purpose.  Attending and then leading at addiction recovery groups.  Immersing himself in Bible studies.  Diving in to church attendance and volunteering.  Encouraging the men of FCM and all whose paths he crossed.  He valued every day and placed value on everyone who crossed his path.

Then, he allowed himself to dream.  He allowed himself to believe that God had so much more for him.  He envisioned a wife and partner who would walk hand-in-hand with him through the seasons of life.  He called me one day and said “Myron, I met this girl and she is different.”  And like an overprotective father I quickly said, ‘you’re lonely.  Satan knows this.  Be careful.  Take your time.’  But he wasn’t lonely, he was filled with a life defining relationship with Jesus and this girl (amazing woman) was God’s sweet gift to him and him to her, that he had been praying for for years, believing she would come.  She is a beautiful gift to him.  His greatest defender and his loudest believer and most staunch encourager in the man that he is.

Then the journey to connecting with his daughter began.  A beautiful little girl who Megan and I had the absolute privilege of meeting yesterday.  A little girl brought into this World through a broken relationship, created by a loving God who knew her before time began.  She is marvelous and this good man beamed with joy and reflected a heart filled with joy and determination to be the ‘dad’ that she deserved.  

The miracle that I observed was the result of tenacity to fight a court system that works against fathers.  And sadly let me add that this system is the result of fathers who have shirked and surrendered their responsibilities and role in children’s lives.  But hope remains.  Years or working through amazing probation officers, incredible DCS advocates, court hearings and tears of frustration that became a flood of joy and love.  He is now connecting with her.  Awarded weekends and more and more time.  These precious moments and hours so worth the days, months and years of prayer and process.  

Then it dawned on me as I watched her little hand slip into the safety of his fiancee’s hand, God knew his daughter would need a loving, strong and gentle woman in his life when the reconnection happened.  His little girl clings to the same woman that he clings to as his future wife clings to him.  God’s timing can be so frustrating but his gifts and rewards are always perfect.

I witnessed a miracle that walked by hundreds of people who simply saw a man, a woman and a little girl coming to church.  If only they knew.  I wonder how many miracles I walk by every day?  I know that I won’t know if I don’t take the risk of allowing people into my life and accepting the complexities of relationship.  I know that God knows who I need to know.  I know that I have love, faith, hope, joy to offer.  I love that God gifts me relationships with good men like him and in doing so stretches and grows me in ways too marvelous to envision.  

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”  Hebrews 11:1 KJV

Yesterday I witnessed a miracle.  I approach today with eyes wide open.

Let’s go.